


make it extra-chocolaty and extra-creamy

by heartrapier



Category: Kimi to Boku | You and I
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-08
Updated: 2013-03-08
Packaged: 2017-12-04 15:58:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/712487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartrapier/pseuds/heartrapier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Akira ever mentions marriage, Kouichi chokes on the hot tea he is drinking and spills a bit of it on his lap. (Akira never really stops talking about it.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	make it extra-chocolaty and extra-creamy

**Author's Note:**

> where are all the kouaki fics in this fandom ;A; what is Akira's full name, anyway? how about their ex-class president's? I'm calling him Kizuna because writing out 'ex-class president' is a pain

The first time Akira ever mentions marriage, Kouichi chokes on the hot tea he is drinking and spills a bit of it on his lap. His trousers are badly stained and his thigh is scalded. The panic that ensues after that is mostly Akira's fault for overreacting. Kouichi eventually dismisses it as another one of Akira's whims, which, now that he thinks of it, are exactly just that; whims, thoughts of the moment.

.

When one of their ex-classmates' ends up getting married with another one of their ex-schoolmates and invites them to the wedding, Akira, mouth stuffed with a slice of the wedding cake, a too-sweet fudge with dripping chocolate cream, says, "When I have my wedding, I will prepare more than one wedding cake and make them extra-chocolaty and extra-creamy. Yes." This, of course, is what Kouichi pulls into conclusion after translating Akira's gibberish through a mouthful of sickening sweets.

Kouichi doesn't ask Akira who he wants to marry. Mostly because Akira has started pestering the bride to give him one more slice of cake and Kouichi, always the chaperone, attempts to push Akira back onto his seat without getting all physical.

.

"Kou-chan, don't you want to get married?" Akira says this during their visit to a coffee shop in the middle of bustling Shinjuku, treading on his chocolate pudding with a spork.

Kouichi doesn't spill hot tea on his trousers again, but on the back of his hand, and he winces as he towels the burn with his handkerchief. "I'm in no hurry." He says at last, because Akira has been staring at him intensely in pure interest. Unfortunately, the other man does nothing to soothe the pain on his hand.

"Yeah, you would have to find a girlfriend first." Akira nods in agreement.

And as his friend plunges a piece of his pudding inside his mouth, Kouichi thinks that's the end of it.

.

That's one of the things that you just can't help in life, you see. Akira follows no patterns, and he is as unexpected as a hurricane. You don't offer your hand with the thought of him taking it; you offer it and expect him to offer his own hand instead.

Kouichi may or may not be surprised when Akira brings up the topic again as the dark-haired man is sprawled on his bed during one weekend, following a tiring week of dealing with pubescent teenagers that Kouichi has to admit he is extremely fond of.

Only, this time, Akira starts off with, "Let's go to a _goukon_ , Kou-chan."

Kouichi, despite years of dealing with the same man, fails to understand. Then again, he never truly understands Akira. Akira is a puzzle and Kouichi picks up the pieces along the way. He has gone a good length when he realizes that the puzzle is never going to be complete, but he keeps moving forward, anyway.

"You are thinking about finding me a girlfriend, aren't you?" Kouichi guesses, rolling his eyes when he remembers the Culture Festival Fiasco.

"But you need a girlfriend, Kou-chan!" Akira huffs, curling on his bed and cuddling his pillow as though he owns the place, which, after much chagrins in Kouichi's part, is partly true. His bed often smells like Akira's cologne. Nights where the fragrance stubbornly stays are the nights Kouichi admits he sleeps like a log. (Which are everyday, he notices belatedly.)

Kouichi's eyebrow raises at him and his lips eventually come apart in sudden, random realization that hits him hard in the stomach for no reason he understands. "You want me to get married."

Akira has the gall to look ashamed but loses it when he adds, "And have a super chocolaty and creamy wedding cake!"

There is an incredibly loud noise of Kouichi's palm meeting his forehead, toppling his glasses.

.

Five minutes haven't even passed when Akira says, "Then I will just get married myself if Kou-chan doesn't," in a childish mumble as he sits up on Kouichi's bed, making it creak ominously as if the intro to a horror movie.

"Don't forget to introduce the bride to me first." Kouichi replies, leaning on his swivel chair and groaning at the unexpected pain on his chest and heart and head. Akira gives him aspirins when he confides to him about the pain. It doesn't help. He appreciates Akira's thought nonetheless. (Since it's a thing so rare and attention-worthy.)

.

Weirdly, the one time Akira doesn't even mention anything about girlfriend or marriage is the one time Kouichi vividly remembers. They are nowhere special; they are just perched on a couch in Kouichi's apartment watching a stand-up comedy show. Akira has made them bitter coffee and leaves the cups on the glass table in front of them, the steam blurring the television screen.

"Akira." Kouichi whispers as he throws his head back and closes his eyes. Laughter from the screen. Akira's spiteful comments by his side. "Do you want to live together?"

Akira may have whipped his head around, but Kouichi only sees black from behind his eyelids. "With Kou-chan?"

"Yes. Let's find a place with two bedrooms and whose rent fee we can pay together." Kouichi says, pulling his head back forward and squinting at the screen. He doesn't get the joke the host is spouting. "You spend too much time here, God knows how your place looks like now. When was the last time you vacuumed?"

 Akira scratches the back of his head and laughs nervously. "Six months ago?"

That's more than enough confirmation for Kouichi to spare some time after school tomorrow to go to check out apartments in the area. But right now, Akira drops his head on his shoulder, and Kouichi breathes as lowly as he can, enduring Akira's hair that tickles him on the neck.

.

He meets his ex-class president, Kizuna, on the day of the moving, for he also lives in the same apartment block. (Akira has fled since so long ago to avoid being made to carry boxes into their new apartment.) The man hasn't changed all that much, except maybe for the fact that he now has a beautiful wife and a one-year-old son.

"Is this your wife's, Kouichi-kun?" Kizuna asks instead after cajoling Kouichi into letting him help, pointing at some of the boxes that don't have Kouichi's handwritings on them.

"What?" Kouichi gasps, his eyebrows raised to an interesting new height.

Kizuna blinks, obviously not expecting that reaction. "You are moving to an apartment for two. Who else are you willing to live together with?"

"Akira."

"Ah." Kizuna snaps his fingers with realization and relief dawning on his eyes. "That explains everything."

_Does it really_ , Kouichi wants to say, but chooses to blame himself for not telling his ex-class president about his conditions for moving into the apartment block before.

When Akira comes back, he has no interest in eating the miso soup Kouichi has painstakingly cooked in way of celebrating the moving and, after a good bath that Kouichi has prepared for him and he (thankfully) enjoys, he confesses to have eaten several taiyaki and stopped by a bakery on his way back.

Kouichi loses the strength to get mad when Akira says that he may have a little bit of space left for his miso soup.

.

They are pushing thirty-four when they are invited to another wedding of two people Akira can't remember but Kouichi recognizes as members of the student council back in high school. It's also the day Kouichi notices that Akira has completely stopped bringing up marriage in any of their talks.

Also, when the bride comes over to their table and lights the incense with the groom, she sneaks a glance at Kouichi and whispers, "You're still not married yet?" To which Kouichi replies with a half-hearted laughter.

The cake is a sickeningly pink strawberry cheesecake.

Akira doesn't say anything about that either.

.

Kouichi may have lost count of how long he has been living together with Akira if not for the visible growth of Kizuna's son, Atari. Atari often stops by their apartment to bring them leftover from dinner that Kizuna's wife made, and every time he does, Kouichi would look at the boy and be struck with disbelief that he is still living with Akira even after years have passed ruthlessly.

He is still cooking dinner when he comes home earlier than Akira, and Akira still brings home food when he finishes he shift faster than Kouichi. They still like to sprawl on the couch as they watch a stand-up comedy show with popcorns and Akira's bitter coffee. Akira still lies about having no blanket when he forces himself onto Kouichi's bed, even though he is just afraid of sleeping alone and of ghosts. Akira's smell never truly leaves his bed for good, simply because the man just keeps coming back to it no matter what.

Kouichi crouches down on the floor with the food Atari has once again brought them and fists his mouth, holding back a cry. He can't imagine being apart from Akira at all, and it's scaring him.

.

The last time Akira will ever mention marriage or getting a partner for as long as Kouichi knows, is when they make a rare visit to a newly-opened coffee shop by the corner to avoid the water raining down on them, find Tachibana Chizuru as a barista, get two espressos on the house, and sit by the balcony as they watch rainwater pour down on the ground.

Seeing Chizuru reminds him of high school, reminds him of the past, and reminds him of the upcoming future. He looks up and sees Akira stick out his tongue and complain about the bitterness exceeding his homemade coffee, and thinks that they are okay like this.

Akira, however, pushes his paper cup of espresso to Kouichi's side of the table, and says in his typical suddenness, "Marry me, Kou-chan."

Kouichi drops his own paper cup onto his coat and he is sure it will stain. Badly, even. But all he can think about is that _Akira is proposing_. _Akira is proposing to him_.

One of the puzzle pieces Kouichi has collected over time reveals that he knows Akira. He knows when Akira is telling the truth and when he isn't. _And this_ , Kouichi watches as Akira huffs and hands him tissues, trying to wipe off the dripping coffee on Kouichi's coat to no avail, _he is serious_. And it's terrifying; Kouichi is nothing short of terrified.

Chizuru comes over and insists that they have another cup of coffee because they spilled one, and when he leaves with Akira hot on his heels, Kouichi laughs to himself because he just now remembers that they obviously can't get married in Japan.

So he lifts his chin and shouts, so that Akira, who has walked inside to annoy Chizuru just by existing, can hear him just fine. "Let's get a cake on the way home!"

Akira turns to him, grins, and pumps his fist into the air. "The one with chocolate and cream!"


End file.
